There have heretofore been proposed oral cavity cleaning devices of this kind, in which a pump and a cleaning head are coupled together through a waste tube which is provided with a waste tank on its way, and the pump is driven with the cleaning head being introduced into the oral cavity to suck residual matter in the oral cavity and to drain it into the waste tank, thereby to clean the oral cavity.
According to the oral cavity cleaning device of this kind as shown, for example, in FIG. 14, the cleaning head 1 is formed in the shape of a toothbrush, a shank 2 thereof includes a slender liquid feed passage 3 and a slender waste passage 4 that run in parallel therein, and a liquid feed port 5 and a waste port 6, which are communicated with the liquid feed passage 3 and with the waste passage 4, are formed in a hair-implanted surface 2a of the brush 7.
A nursing person who attempts to wash the oral cavity of a physically handicapped person holds the cleaning head 1 by his hand to put the brush 7 into the oral cavity, and drives the pump, whereby the water stored in, for example, a liquid feed tank is sent through the liquid feed tube, supplied into the oral cavity from the liquid feed port 5 through the liquid feed passage 3 connected to the liquid feed tube while brushing the oral cavity with the brush 7, so that the brushed lees are washed away with water. The waste liquid that collects in the oral cavity is sucked by the pump from the waste port through the waste passage 4, and is drained, for example, into the waste tank through the waste tube connected to the waste passage 4.
With the above oral cavity cleaning device, however, the opening at the end of the cleaning head must have a size which is large to some extent so as to suck even those residual matters that are large to a slight degree. Then, it becomes necessary to employ a large pump to reliably suck the residual matter. An increase in the pump not only causes an increase in the cost but also causes the device as a whole to become heavy and bulky.
With the oral cavity cleaning device using the cleaning head 1 shown in FIG. 14, further, the air around the brush 7 is sucked at the time of sucking the waste liquid; i.e., the waste liquid is sucked poorly efficiently. To enhance the sucking efficiency, therefore, it becomes necessary to employ a relatively large pump similarly causing an increase in the cost and causing the whole device to become heavy and bulky. The device becomes less suited for being carried, loses operability, and gives an increased burden for a nursing person who takes care of a physically handicapped person in his home or visiting the handicapped person's home.
The object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide a device which is capable of reliably sucking the residual matter, which is cheaply constructed as a result of using a small pump, which as a whole is light in weight and small in size, which is easy to carry and easy to operate giving reduced burden for a nursing person by solving the above-mentioned problems inherent in the prior art.